X
- 1996
- Not Rated
- Kino International
- 1 h 42 m
- 1996
- Not Rated
- Kino International
- 1 h 42 m
Summary Mid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.
Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong
Written By: Jeffrey Lau, Kar-Wai Wong
- 1996
- Not Rated
- Kino International
- 1 h 42 m
- 1996
- Not Rated
- Kino International
- 1 h 42 m
As Tears Go By (1988)
67
7.7
Where to Watch
Summary Mid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.
Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong
Written By: Jeffrey Lau, Kar-Wai Wong
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
67
67% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
67
67% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
33% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Right out of the gate—and even working within the modern Hong Kong gangster genre—Wong Kar-wai burst onto the screen as a strikingly unique talent. This is clearly a filmmaker less interested in plot and dialogue than he is in movement, music, and color—no matter the time, place, or story.
Some of the editing has a giddy, overeager quality, the natural excess of a young prodigy, but when the action and the tempo align, the results are exhilarating: an early brawl in a pool hall fairly leaps off the screen.
Violent, sentimental and profane, "Tears" crosses cool, hi-tech photography with a savage realism. [08 May 1990, p.3]
This sounds like a fairly standard debut. But Wong smothers the story with tremendous style. Some directors give you a healthy ratio of mashed potatoes to gravy. Wong seems not at all to care for the potatoes.
Plays entertainingly like an Asian version of a Michael Mann film, albeit with the plot of Mean Streets. It's not quite essential, but the deeply felt ending looks like a jumping-off point for all that Wong has made since. [22 Jan 2005]
If it fails, ultimately, it's because the relationship between the rational gangster Lau and the impetuous Jacky Cheung never really rings true. A cut above the usual HK action melodrama all the same.
As Tears Go By has some interesting ideas and is an adequate first film, but, ultimately, is only slightly more interesting than any number of similar pictures made in the wake of John Woo's seminal 1986 trendsetter A Better Tomorrow.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
7.7
100% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
7.7
100% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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